Sandlesracing Blog

Audi Exclusive Tour

Last weekend I had a day out courtesy of Audi, at the Pau circuit in the south of France. I had a whole day driving all kinds of Audis on track and on the road.

First up we had a “workshop” on the Audi R8 Le Mans car, the petrol version, with photos sitting in it, pressing all the buttons and trying to reach the pedals! Then it was the RS4 on track, with a french formula renault champion whose name I can’t remember. That was a nice car to drive!

Then it was out on the road in a Q7, A5, TT 2.0L turbo and finally the S5. Then it was back to the circuit for lunch and a free massage. Then we had some track time in the S3, then onto a slalom course with a 3.0L quattro TT, then offroad in the Q7, and finally a passenger ride in the new R8 with a Le Mans driver taking me round…… very fast.

After all that, I went to Biarritz (or nearby) to stay with Row one night as he was working down there. The following day I did a bit of body boarding in Biarritz, which was a really nice place with a really nice beach for surfing, and there were a lot of surfers out there. Then it was back home to coding again! But it was a good weekend, I think i’ve been sold on Audi’s for the time being.

Check out the photos here.

Donutting in september

We had a great day out on the donuts again, with a lot of the friends we’ve made over here (all french). We then took the quads out for a blast, and went through the forest to our friend Isabelle’s house for apperitifs, not once touching the tarmac. Then a quick blast back home in the dark for dinner, and out into town and clubbing.

Have a look at the photos.

Insane jetski backflips

This makes me realise I really can’t ride a jetski, doesn’t matter how fast I can get it round the buoys! Me and Row went to the world finals in 2003, and we saw a japanese guy do this flatwater backflip, Malone didn’t do it. But to do 3 flatwater backflips in a row is just unbelievable! Anyway, have a look..

Eric Malone World Finals 2006

When fish attack!

I read a while back about jumping sturgeon in the states, that had injured a jetskier. In fact I think it knocked him out as he was riding fast on his jetski, when a large strugeon (i’m guessing more than 10 pounds), jumped out of the water and hit him in the face.

I was a bit sceptical to start with, but then I found this video of jumping carp (again in the states). No wonder he was knocked out! Check out this video of jumping asian carp.

New kawasaki X2? Can’t be!

I recently came across this apparently new X2 on sx-r.com. I was never really a fan of the X2, seeing as I already had a superjet 701 before I tried an X2, so it seemed a bit slow and slidey to me. But if this one is based on the SXR-800, it should be really good. If i’m right the first ever barrel roll in competition was done on an X2 (i might be wrong though), so wave jumping should be really good on this. Can’t say I’d go out and buy one, but for die hard X2 fans this will certainly be a welcome come back.

Check it out at www.sx-r.com

Ski hol in Val Thorens

We went to Val Thorens in January with a load of people Row has skied with before (I only knew 2 people), and we had a great time. The snow wasn’t great at the beginning of the week, but it snowed on the 3rd day and we had 2 great powder days. I even managed to lose both my skis for 10 minutes in snow that was up to my waist!

Anyway, the point of this story is really for the guys and gals that went on the holiday with us. I made a video of our antics because…. well, I like doing it.

So here it is, sorry if I’ve left anyone out, I didn’t have footage of everyone. Best to download and save to your hard drive, then you can watch over and over again (works well in Windows Media Player 11 by the way).

Download Val Thorens ski holiday video

Dave Lyne wins first round at Tattershall

Well I have to give a little space to my friend Dave, who’s just started jetski racing again after a few years break. He entered the beginner ski class on his newly aquired Kawasaki SXR. Here’s how Dave recounted his weekend’s success.

Well I entered the British Winter Series and went to the first round today at Tattershall. I got up at 4:30am to drive in 100 mph winds and torrential rain to the lake!! I shat my pants as I needed all three lanes, but I still got the van up to 120 miles an hour, no cars on the M1 of course!

The organisation’s still poor though. I got there at 7am as asked, to sign in and fill out all entry forms, but they weren’t ready until 8:30! What a waste of time!

Anyway, I warmed up with some laps then straight in to my first race, and bugger me I won by well over half a lap…. and I fell in…. and I got cramp in my calf as we were in the cold water for ages waiting!! (no change there either then – Rich) My god it hurt, I had to stand straight up. It looked comical as I was slowing to stretch out my leg then getting a bit of a squirt on.

In the second race I missed the start by a mile so another rider got the holeshot. He had a fast ski and he rode really well so I just settled in to the race. Then he missed a green splitter buoy so I kept to the course and he took the deviation buoy, by this time I was on the pace as I knew we would come on to the red buoy together, so I just held my line next to him and nailed it round two buoys. Then when we turned round a tight yellow by the club house I nailed the throttle again and pushed him until I got round him whilst taking another bouy and flew past in to the lead, then stretched my lead to about 5 buoys!!

It was the best overtake I have ever done and apparently it looked really spectacular!! Kev (Pope) and Will (Eatwell) were amazed. I won both races!!! Wicked!! I didn’t think I would come close!!

Well done Dave, roll on the next round for some more butt kicking.

Around the world in the coolest boat.

Here’s another interesting site about an epic journey. It’s called Earthrace and this has to be the coolest looking boat in the world, and environmentally friendly too. Here’s how they describe their challenge.

Earthrace is a bid to break the world record for circumnavigating the globe in a powerboat, and using only renewable fuels. The program includes an 18-month tour calling at 60 of the worlds great cities, promoting fuels like biodiesel, and raising awareness about sustainable use of resources.

Circumnavigating the globe represents the pinnacle of powerboat challenges, and at 24,000 nautical miles, is also the world’s longest race. The current record of 75 days was set by British boat Cable & Wireless in 1998.

The Earthrace aims to smash this record by completing the voyage in less than 65 days, and will mark the first time in history that an official UIM Powerboat record will be attempted using renewable fuel.

You can visit their website www.earthrace.net for the latest on their journey. The record attempt starts on March 6 2007.

Crossing the Atlantic by jetski?

I recently came across this site, www.atlantic07.co.uk for 4 guys who want to ride from Liverpool to New York on their jetskis. I think it’s a great ambition, but looking at the site, I can’t see any riding experience mentioned. Are they just “Sunday Steves”?

I’ve done a bit of sea riding, and I’ve been out in seas where the waves were as a big as a house. It’s pretty frightening. I’ve got good machine control being an ex-racer, but I can’t imagine tackling the Atlantic.

I hope these guys do well, it will be great publicity for jetskiing if they succeed. Leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Dodgy suit cam?

Here’s a little video I made of a ski trip me and Row did a couple of years ago. It’s more about the style of skiers you see around on the slopes. I never realised just how many people have horrendous taste.

Anyway, here it is. Enjoy. Watch dodgy suit cam.